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Saturday, 28 January 2012

On the 24th January 2012 I delivered an online webinar presentation for the IATEFL Young Learner SIG. The theme of the presentation was 'Developing materials and practices for the digital generation.' I focused on how teachers could combine the use of online tools to encourage students' digital literacy and study skills whilst also developing their ability to develop their linguistic skills in a more autonomous way.

Below you can find a link to a recording of the presentation and you can also download the slides with all the links.

Monday, 9 January 2012

Just before Xmas I reviewed a potential IWB killer app called Idea Flight. This was the first of a batch of iPad apps that I have found which attempt to replace the need for an IWB. Idea Flight
attempted this by enabling the networking of groups of iPads and one of
the primary criticisms that readers pointed out with this system is
that it was limited to contexts in which students all had iPads.

Doceri takes a very different approach though. Doceri
requires that you have a data projector with either a laptop or desktop
attached, but using a small app on the iPad and a small piece of
software on the computer, it enables you to take control of the main
computer with all it’s installed software, and Flash functionality,
directly from your iPad.

The
iPad app has all the normal software installed that would expect with
your IWB, so you can use different modes such as a whiteboard mode that
enables you to write on the board from your iPad using your finger or an
additional stylus, or surf the internet and interact with the computer
native software, or you can mix the two modes and annotate over web
pages or software based applications. The app records your annotations
too so that you can play them back as video animations.

Here are just a few of the features of the Doceri app shown as iPad screen grabs.

You see the computer desktop on your iPad and can access all the computer's software through the interface.

You can access files images and different whiteboard backgrounds through the app's folders.

You
can manipulate the computer software, click your way through websites
or presentations and point out different features by using two fingers
on your iPad screen.

You can get left mouse clicks or right click menus by using two fingers on the iPad

You can call up an onscreen keyboard for text input.

You
can annotate over software applications or web pages using a range of
pen types and record the annotations to play back later.

The
board can be used as a normal whiteboard and you can write and draw
from it and hand the iPad around to students to let them control the
space.

You can find more detail about the app features on the Doceri website at: How to use Doceri Features or watch this video to see the basic features.

Recently, I’ve started using Doceri
at conferences to control my laptop during presentations, and although
it took a little bit of getting used to at first I’m starting to find
the ability to control presentations and switch between presentation,
interacting with live web and software applications without having to
keep going back and fiddling with my laptop pretty handy.

What I like about Doceri

It’s not free ($50) but it’s much cheaper than an IWB.

It’s great to be able to control the whiteboard from where ever you are in the room.

You can pass the iPad around and give students control of the board

It’s wireless so no fuss with leads.

Easy to switch between modes.

I love that you can record and play back annotations etc.

It’s great that it’s portable so you can use the app on any computer
in any room as long as it has the software installed (The computer part
is free) So it’s great for schools who are supplying teachers with
iPads (and they should be).

You can store all your lesson documents on the iPad and access them from where ever you are.

It’s possible to make surprisingly accurate mouse gestures using your fingers on the iPad

You never need to have your back to the class and can maintain eye contact much more easily.

What I’m not so sure about

Writing reasonably sized letters with your finger is a bit tricky, so I think the Doceri Good Point Stylus is a must buy ($39).

The app software doesn’t come with as many fancy tools and library
objects as an IWB, but that could be an advantage when it comes to
training and teachers will want to build up their own library of images
and docs etc to use.

It would be good to have a couple more tools that enable you to draw
shapes and tables without having to do them freehand. I also miss some
of my favorite IWB tools like the spotlight function and the curtain for
slow reveal.

It takes a little bit of time to get used to manipulating the left
and right click using the fingers of one hand, especially if you are
used to walking around and are hanging onto your tablet with the other
hand, especially if like me you tend to gesticulate a lot with your
hands.

Teachers are generally more comfortable with a pen in their hand.

As I said before Doceri
isn’t free, though there is a 1 month free trial If you want to try it
out. At $50 and considering you need to get the software installed on
any computers you want to use it with, this probably isn’t going to be a
purchase for the average teacher, though it might be something you try
to get your school to invest in instead of IWBs.

For someone like me though, who does a lot of work in different schools and a lot of presenting at conferences, Doceri
is well worth the investment as I can turn up anywhere with my laptop
and iPad and know that I’ll have IWB functionality and that’s certainly
worth the $50.